Julia Lynn (born February 22, 1957) is a Republican member of the Kansas Senate, representing the 9th district (Olathe, De Soto & Gardner) since 2006.[2]
Lynn received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Kansas.
On December 3, 2012, she was elected by her Republican colleagues as Assistant Majority Leader, with 22 of 32 votes. It was the first time Senate Republicans conducted leadership elections in Senate chambers. Elections have previously been conducted in a smaller conference room. The American Conservative Union has given her a lifetime rating of 79%.[3]
After she became chair of the Senate Commerce Committee in 2013, she oversaw the vetting of Antonio Soave, Commerce Secretary to Republican Governors Sam Brownback and then Jeff Colyer. Soave oversaw the outsourcing of considerable work which had previously been done by state employees, to contractors. After Governor Laura Kelly took office, Lynn tried to squelch audits of those contracts. Some work had gone to Allied Global Services (AGS) and Lynn was working for a division of AGS, Inclusion Works. She denied having any conflict of interest in that relationship, a position with which both Republican and Democratic legislators disagreed. Upon audits, considerable problems were found with the contractors.[4]
In the 2020 Kansas Senate elections, she wanted to withdraw her name from the ballot as the Republican nominee for the 9th district citing "personal reasons." However, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab denied her request, saying that the request was signed by a nurse rather than a doctor as required.[5]
Personal
Lynn lives in Olathe and is married to Jeff Lynn. They have two children, a son and a daughter.[6]
Committee assignments
Lynn currently serves on these legislative committees:[2]
- 2015 Special Committee on Taxation
- Assessment and Taxation
- Commerce (Chair)
- Interstate Cooperation
- Judiciary
- Legislative Post Audit Committee
- Telecommunications Study committee
- Utilities
References
- ^ http://www.kanfocus.com/FMPro.php?-DB=House_Profiles_KS&-lay=Contact_Current&-format Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine z=Contact_House.html&-RecID=326&-find
- ^ a b "Senator Julia Lynn - Senate Assistant Majority Leader". Kansas Legislature, 2015-2016. Kansas Legislative Information System and Services. Archived from the original on 9 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
- ^ "Leadership Results". Julia Lynn State Senator. Julia Lynn for State Senate. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
- ^ Conflict-of-interest questions swirl around Kansas GOP senator Archived 2019-11-03 at the Wayback Machine, Kiowa County Signal, November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
- ^ "Kansas Secretary of State denies state senator's request to withdraw from election". 2 September 2020. Archived from the original on 3 September 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
- ^ "Meet Julia". Julia Lynn State Senator. Julia Lynn for State Senate. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2015.